The Jungle Book and Dissertations
On October 18, 1967 Disney released the children’s film, The Jungle Book. One of the characters was a python who hypnotizes his prey. How does the dissertation process have you hypnotized?…
When it comes to your dissertation, you don’t know what you’re doing. That’s not a dig, and you shouldn’t feel insulted. It’s just a fact.
You’re a student. You’ve never completed a dissertation before. So, why should you know what you’re doing?
The problem is, how do you learn to complete a dissertation? There’s a lot of myths surrounding the dissertation process that most doctoral students accept as fact. They fall under the spell of these myths. Hypnotized, just like Mowgli in Kaa’s deadly grip.
Here are a few I hear over and over…
I should pick a topic that I’m passionate about.
I haaate this one! Such an insidious piece of well-meaning advice!
Look, if you’re a working professional with a successful career, then you don’t want to be a research professor. You want to graduate and leverage your doctoral degree to help you take the next step in your career.
If that’s the case, then your focus should be on graduating quickly and efficiently. Any dissertation will do; passions be damned.
So, why do so many faculty propagate this advice? Because, they’re trained to work with students who do want to be research professors. These students should pick a topic their passionate about. After all, they’ll likely continue this same line of research well into their careers.
You should not pick a topic you’re passionate about. Passions compromise objectivity and cloud your judgment. Folks tend to not speed through their passions. Instead, they take their time. Enjoy themselves.
Does that sound like the dissertation experience you had in mind for yourself? If not, don’t pick a topic you’re passionate about!
I have to be a genius to get my dissertation done.
Thomas Edison characterized success as “10 percent inspiration and 90 percent perspiration.” Decades later, Woody Allen estimated that “80 percent of success is showing up.”
Believe it or not, the same is true of your dissertation. Genius, inspiration, and Eureka! moments are completely optional. Determination and persistence are not.
Getting help from a professional to complete my dissertation is going to be expensive.
The old bromide says, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance.” The same thing applies to professional coaching and support.
Would it be worth a year’s tuition to save a year or two in your time to graduation? Of course.
To move to another job with a big pay raise a year or two sooner? Absolutely.
To rid yourself of the stress and frustration of the dissertation process? In short, to get your life back?
